Hartford Stage

SUMMER AND SMOKE
By Tennessee Williams
Directed by Michael Wilson

Sandwiched between two blockbusters, even a masterpiece can be overlooked.

Tennessee William's Summer & Smoke debuted in 1948, in between the celebrated A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. While long overshadowed, Summer & Smoke is nothing short of a masterpiece.

You won't want to miss Hartford Stage's smoldering production of this classic Southern epic, set in 1914 Mississippi. Amanda Plummer, the quintessential Williams heroine, is Alma Winemiller, a proper minister's daughter who secretly lusts after the neighborhood bad boy. Marc Kudisch is young Johnny, the shockingly dissolute doctor, who leads Alma on a merry chase, alternately enticing and spurning her. When act four rolls around, will the two finally fall in love or go their separate ways?

"I think the character I like most is Miss Alma. She really had the greatest struggle. You see, Alma went through the same thing I went through ? from puritanical shackles to complete profligacy. Freedom." -- Tennesee Williams